The Comstock gradually reached borrasca, but its fame lived on. As a wonderful quote by “Kettle Belly” Brown, who had been the fire chief in Virginia City during the 1870’s, and who was being interviewed by a San Francisco newspaper said about San Francisco, “Where would the Palace Hotel be, I’d like to ask, if […]
Next week I’ll get into the economic results of the Comstock, but there’s one more name I want to mention about the characters of Virginia City, and that is Adolph Sutro. Born in Germany in 1830, he immigrated to America, and became a cigar maker in San Francisco. Hearing about the possibilities of riches in […]
By the year 1873, the Comstock mines had been in and out of bonanza several times. After each slump, new mining ideas and devices came on, new prospectors came on the scene, and more silver was found. No one was getting rich, but everyone was persistent. The Comstock mines had produced scores of millionaires, and […]
In 1859, ten years after the gold rush of California, a group of poverty ridden but determined prospectors, were gathered around Sun Mountain in Nevada, trying to uncover a supposed great silver strike uncovered by Ethan and Hosea Grosch. Unfortunately, the Grosch brothers had died, and left no trace or identifying landmark of their find. […]
In the world today, most nations have a little bit of gold, and for that matter a lot of people have a little bit of gold. Who has the most, and who buys the most, is an interesting thing to make note of, since gold is historic real money, rather than un-backed pieces of paper […]
In post World War One. America was rebuilding and recovering. The 1920’s were truly boom years. The electrical grid was expanding, and more and more electrical appliances were being sold and installed. This was consumerism with a capital “C”, and at the same time, lots of autos were being sold. The Model T was being […]
TV is full of silver ads. I mean big ads with lots of special effects, and all sorts of free stuff. “Just call and we’ll send you a free 1 gram silver bar.” That’s worth a few cents. Or a free booklet about how the dollar is doomed and silver will go to $200. Maybe […]
Life is full of chances one must take, just to live. Did I pick the right mate? Did I buy the correct car, home, neighborhood, job, town or city in which to live? Correct doctor, insurance, church, friend, and on it goes. The one thing we MUST do as we get older, and that is […]
The Civil War was probably the greatest disaster to ever hit these shores. 610,000 people killed in that war started by Abe Lincoln. The Civil War was unpopular in the North. So unpopular, that Lincoln had to institute a draft to gain soldiers. For some strange reason, a man who didn’t want to go could […]
There are banks everywhere. In small towns, huge cities, and foreign nations. Bankers always seem to be wealthy, ever notice that? The corner bank is really indispensable, and I would never want to eliminate them. However, the way they work, if you wish to borrow money, is pretty amazing. Perhaps 95% of the citizenry have […]